Getting things done is a struggle familiar to both beginner entrepreneurs and business tycoons. Everyone wants to be and stay productive, but sometimes your tasks might feel overwhelming. Here, scheduling can come to your rescue! Effective scheduling can help you divide your workload, plan ahead, and never miss a deadline. Let’s learn more about scheduling tips that can help increase productivity.
What to put on your morning schedule
How you spend your morning hours often defines how you will spend your day. We have collected morning routine examples from successful influencers, business owners, and visionaries to understand how they start their day.
Nurture your body and mind like Oprah Winfrey
The iconic host of the Oprah Show is an early bird. She wakes up before sunrise and takes a long walk with her dogs. She also follows a healthy diet and saves some time for meditation and spirituality.
Take care of your health like Michelle Gass
The CEO of Kohl’s wakes up at half past four and starts her day with a morning jog. She has been sticking to this habit for over 15 years because it is not only good for physical stamina but helps her start the day.
Spend some time with your family like Richard Branson
The British tycoon and billionaire also likes to do cardio exercises early in the morning. After that, he often has breakfast with his family and then starts his work routine.
Hold meetings before noon like Jeff Bezos
One of the most successful men on Earth, the CEO of Amazon, pays attention to his sleep regimen and doesn’t use an alarm clock to wake up. He then devotes the morning hours to his most important and mentally consuming meetings.
Success happens when persistence meets preparation
Being prepared never harms anyone. And, having a schedule can help you prepare for the day. To start your schedule, we recommend dividing your workday into several parts:
- analytics and work that requires concentration
- communication
- routine tasks
- breaks and power naps
Let’s find out how to effectively complete everything on the list above without falling into procrastination traps.
Use scheduling automation
Distractions are notorious for reducing productivity, but you can use automation tools to reduce them to an absolute minimum. There are many types of online appointment scheduling software on the market. Using them will enable you to:
- offer your clients a self-booking option
- implement recurring scheduling and payments
- automatically send payments, feedback requests, and appointment notifications
- send documents so your clients can sign them virtually in one click
Products such as ExpertBox stand out from most scheduling software. For example, ExpertBox is an all-in-one business management tool that provides you with a powerful CRM platform, online, automatic payments, as well as secure video and chat functionality.
Regularly review your tasks
We often tend to spend time on something without taking its importance into consideration. Spend 15 minutes of your day prioritizing everything you have to do. You can use the matrix Eisenhower developed to determine what you should focus on. You can divide your tasks into four categories:
- the most urgent and important tasks. These tasks are the ones that you should be focused on for most of the day.
- the less urgent, important tasks. You can reschedule these tasks for a more convenient time; however, we recommend dividing them into smaller subtasks and dedicating at least some time during your day to them.
- the more urgent, less important tasks. Usually, these tasks are part of a routine and may prevent you from focusing on more important matters. Delegate them to someone else if you can.
- the not urgent, not important tasks. These tasks can be ignored or even removed from your to-do list.
Plan your workload based on biorhythm
Everyone is most productive at different times of the day, so it’s important to plan your tasks based on your peak productivity time. There are multiple chronotypes, but roughly all of them can be divided into two general groups: people who are productive in the first half of the day, or the so-called “larks,” and those who are more productive in the evening — the “owls.”
Based on peak productivity, it is recommended that “larks” schedule analytical work for the morning, switch to routine work in the afternoon, and leave creative tasks for the evening.
For “owls,” on the contrary, it is recommended to schedule tasks requiring creative thinking for the morning, do routine jobs in the afternoon, and switch to tasks that need maximum productivity in the evening.
Eat the frog first
Creating a habit of working on your most difficult task first will save you lots of stress and will erase the word “procrastination” from your vocabulary. The University of British Columbia held a research study that showed that the human brain tends to naturally avoid the toughest work to try to save energy. While this was useful in the course of evolution, now this tendency might ruin your plans for the day. Be vigilant, and don’t let your mind play tricks on you. Work on the most complicated tasks first.
Learn to take breaks
While some of us suffer from procrastination, there’s an opposite extreme that is potentially dangerous. Some people push themselves too hard and constantly overwork, expecting themselves to continue to be productive. However, this approach only leads to burnout and stress. Everyone needs a break, so it is good to take power naps or have a cup of coffee without continuously thinking about work. Let your mind relax, at least for a bit, every now and then. You can even plan breaks in your schedule to ensure you won’t miss them or that they won’t transform into a full-fledged weekend.
Final thoughts
We need to work smarter, not harder, to reach maximum productivity. Try to outsmart your procrastination by scheduling your day according to the techniques we described above, and you’ll be impressed by the results.
